TORONTO VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL.

Hey everyone!

Today's post is something a little different: it's going to be about my evening at the Toronto Vegetarian Festival! I know I'm going to get questions about whether I'm a vegetarian or not, but I already answered it here. To cut it short, I don't label myself as anything, but if I think back to the past 2 or so months, I don't think I've eaten more than a couple non-vegan things. It honestly comes naturally to me! I asked to get a media pass for the event so that I could legally take pictures and post them here for you guys (but honestly I just wanted a cool necklace lol). If you live in or around Toronto, the festival is going on Saturday and Sunday so you still have time! So if you're interested in learning about some of the vegetarian products I picked up, listen up :)

I swear, vegan desserts, such as this "organic marshmallow s'more pie" are 10x better than non-vegan desserts! Plus, you know the ingredients are actually beneficial to your body so you're not consuming "empty calories"! Cheaters always win ;)

There were fresh coconuts for sale, samples of chocolate that I've wanted to try forever, and LARA bars being sampled.. which honestly, I don't understand why they are so hyped up. They taste kind of bad in my opinion, nothing special. Not to say that I didn't get three samples.. ;) 

I loved coming up to the booths with no people, and talking to the representative about their product. It's so much fun if you're genuinely interested in learning about new products on the market! 
The best part was being able to try the products I've been eyeing in the grocery store! It's a fool proof way to find out what you like and what is worth spending money on. 

After many hours of walking around the place ten times and sampling from every booth at least five times, I left. I left with a bag so heavy, that the handle actually broke off haha.

Now onto my favorite part of the post... I get to tell you what I got! :)

Hemp Hearts: Stole/took 3 samples of them! Super high in protein, manganese, fibre, omega's, and pretty much every nutrient haha! They taste really nutty and you can add them into smoothies, cereal, granola, and baked goods to add extra nutrition!
Bean Ladies 'Hot Chicks': These are basically really spicy roasted chick peas.. uhm, yea, I'm obsessed with chick peas. Hummus?! Where? Gimme! (In all actuality this seemed like a cute little business that I wanted to support, and I've been obsessed with spicing everything lately.)
Natura Strawberry Soy Milk: I've never tried soy milk before because my mom kept telling me it tasted really bad. Was she hallucinating? In a delusional state? Soy milk tastes amazing! Obviously, there's lots of added sugar, added flavour, blah blah blah... it just tasted like strawberry milkshake okay. It was $2- I couldn't pass it up!
Camino Almond Butter Bar: Three words: Peanut butter cup. Love love love love love, this tastes amazing! It was $1.25, too! It's fair trade, 100% organic and dairy free! When something is fair trade it wins me over way more than "organic" does! I did a whole project on fair trade last year, it's an amazing movement that we should support as often as we can!
Vegenaise: I got two little sample jars to try out, one in a reduced-fat version (although I'm not too fond of reduced fat anything). Basically vegenaise is a vegan "mayonaise", and I tried it on set one time.. and practically hurled at the smell of it. I tasted it today though, and it tastes kind of like salad dressing! Giving it a second chance!
Hemp protein samples: Because any chance I can save myself $2 buying packets of protein, I'll obviously take advantage of it lol. I add 1/3 of a protein packet into my morning smoothies for just a touch of protein (I usually estimate like 6g).
Sunflower Kitchen 'Santa Fe Chili Soup': Mmm who doesn't love chili? They had every soup they make out for sampling, and I liked this one the most (again, because I'm going through a spicy stuff phase)! It's vegan, has 31% calcium (har har more than in a cup of milk), lots of fibre, iron... okay it just has a lot of everything haha.
Soyatoo Extra Creamy Whip: When I was younger, I used to go to starbucks and ask for a cup of whipped cream. I'd go to restaurants, order a dessert with whipped cream, and then ask for another serving of whipped cream. I have pictures, it's all documented to haunt me for the rest of my life lol. This whipped cream tastes EXACTLY like the real thing, and has like 10 calories. Obviously I'd get this!
Raw Vegan Cacao Nibs: This is basically as real as chocolate gets. It is, from my understanding, broken apart cacao beans. I bought these for baking, making into cacao powder, using as a topping, and just for fun haha.



Thank you to everyone at the Toronto Vegetarian Festival! See you next year! :)